This week began with a few blasts of sun, before bringing us some autumn weather to signal that summer is officially over. Our Little Forest Folk-ers have also identified the changes occurring around us in the natural world, and many noticed the trees beginning to drop their leaves and seeds… which can only mean one thing, conkers galore! With several kilos of conkers collected and brought in by educators this Monday, our children were given a new opportunity to combine fine motor dexterity and larger movements as they cradled mountains of the irregular shiny brown treasure from A to B.
Conkers being so versatile provide great moments for early number sense and several children started to manipulate them into groups and larger quantities, counting up to double digits. With conkers spread on plates we have also been able to help some children to “subitise” which is the ability to identify quantity without counting. Interestingly, research shows that most adults can only “subitise” up to five…so why not practice this yourself alongside your children at home with some conkers collected this weekend.
This week we also enjoyed using a hand drill under the care and guidance of our well-trained educators. No matter how small, all the children were able to persevere at this fun new task, and so, with a myriad of different facial expressions and clenched grips, their large goals of small holes were achieved. Play and creativity was extended here for those that wished, and threaded conkers became snakes, trains and bracelets too. Several bags of sticks at the Bowling club site were also given a second chance with twine, and soon several tiny rafts were seen around the site. We can hopefully try them out on water soon and as we begin to see a bit more rain maybe we’ll get the chance to experiment with them shortly.
We have visited the lake this week too. All of the children who started this term have enjoyed going on their first adventure walks out of the forest site. Little legs have limbered up with haste and their growing confidence was visible as they strode through the forest. Particular wonder, awe and fun was had observing several huge swans both taking off and landing on the lake. A variety of other water dwelling birds like ducks also kept the children similarly captivated and with the happy smiles around it is clear to see the benefits the natural world brings to their lives. Children also discovered a Gruffalo house in the forest where there has been renewed opportunities to clamber up, on, and over much larger trees and branches. This has really helped children to test their own abilities and follow the lead of more experienced Little Forest Folk-ers in order to reach new heights and celebrate vertical successes.
These walks have helped to inspire and diversify roleplay ideas and pretending to be dinosaurs is now interspersed with some children collecting fossils and bones, whilst other children nurture and revel in dinosaur eggs that are beginning to crack open. As the children walk these new paths, they can choose to take what they like with them back to the forest site and have even expressed an urge to help us develop our bowling club site with these extra loose parts. It’s so good to see that children want to take an active part in forming how their space looks and we can’t wait to keep on working together to make even more magical moments.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth